A group of protesters held a procession and sit-in in front of the Dhaka Uttara residence of Jatiya Party (JaPa) Chairman Golam Mohammed (GM) Quader, demanding that he be brought to justice.
Accusing him of betraying the blood of the July uprising’s martyrs and of colluding with the ousted government, they demanded his swift arrest.
Meanwhile, Shourya Deepta Surya, press secretary to the party chairman, said that GM Quader’s residence in Uttara had been attacked. He confirmed this on Monday.
GM Quader, for his part, claimed that a group of youths had attacked his house.
Local students and members of the public, under the banner “Anti-Autocracy General Public”, took part in the protest. Accusing him of betraying the blood of the July martyrs and of colluding with the fallen government, they demanded the swift arrest of the Jatiya Party chairman.
The protesters took up position on the road in front of GM Quader’s house and chanted various slogans. Deputy Commissioner
Md Rezaul Karim of the DMP’s Uttara Division confirmed the matter.
GM Quader, however, said that 50 to 60 youths gathered in front of his house and shouted provocative slogans. At one point they hurled bricks and stones at the house and vandalised it. Police later arrived and brought the situation under control.
The activists who took part in the protest march alleged that, despite the change won at the cost of hundreds of lives in the bloody mass uprising of students and the public in July and August, the top leadership of the Jatiya Party is still maintaining secret contact with the ousted Awami League and with Sheikh Hasina, who is in India.
Speakers said that, by taking part in the last three national elections, the Jatiya Party had played a role in giving political legitimacy to the previous government. They said that in the new Bangladesh no collaborator of fascism would be allowed political rehabilitation.
The protesters also called on the government to bring GM Quader under the law immediately and put him on trial.